Protaonists in comedies

[GonnaBeFamous]

Can the protagonist be someone you laugh at but also someone who does bad stuff occasionally if it's SOMEWHAT warranted as a result of the antagonist's actions?

[Writer1]

Can the protagonist be someone you laugh at but also someone who does bad stuff occasionally if it's SOMEWHAT warranted as a result of the antagonist's actions?

Yes.

[AdamH]

Absolutely! As long as you give the character some kind of redeeming quality.

[TheRuleofThirds]

I guess you've never seen Raising Arizona. Or Death to Smoochy.

[Joe Calabrese]

Yes. Remember an arc though and keep him/her sympathetic.

[scripter1]

Is stealing wrong?
Yes, but if you steal a car (or the antags car) to escape then the audience will understand.

If the bad thing that the protag does is funny and doesn't cause serious harm to anyone then we will accept it.

BUT if the protag steps across a line and becomes worse then the antag it will be a problem. The two cannot switch roles.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Is stealing wrong?
Yes, but if you steal a car (or the antags car) to escape then the audience will understand.

If the bad thing that the protag does is funny and doesn't cause serious harm to anyone then we will accept it.

BUT if the protag steps across a line and becomes worse then the antag it will be a problem. The two cannot switch roles.

Right now it's more of a comedy-drama becasue I have the protagonist get angry and push the antagonist stirring a fight because he had become drug addicted, and so jealous and angry by what she had done to him over the course in the movie. Appropriate or should I try and wing a new way for a climax? (right now I don't have any ideas, although the car stealing stealing might be actually funny, but not sure yet if I want to try an alternate route until i get input).

Help is definitely appreciated.

[Joe Calabrese]

I don't see how you can have a protagonist become a drug addict and yet keep it as a comedy, even if infused with drama.

But if you can pull it off, more power to ya.

I had a similar problem trying to write a comedy but with a wrapped element of a tragic death and most people found the death and the drama associated with it way over shadowed any comedy in the script.

[GonnaBeFamous]

I don't see how you can have a protagonist become a drug addict and yet keep it as a comedy, even if infused with drama.

But if you can pull it off, more power to ya.

I had a similar problem trying to write a comedy but with a wrapped element of a tragic death and most people found the death and the drama associated with it way over shadowed any comedy in the script.

Because of his goofy personality, how he becomes drug addicted, and what he allows the antagonist to do to him in his pursuit of the antagonist. What do you think?

[Joe Calabrese]

Well if the drug makes him act funny and not pathetic and if the drug itself is not bringing him to the brink of death and is a harmless and wacky, perhaps a make believe drug-- then maybe.

I personally don't find anything funny about a heroin addict, but a fall down drunk, perhaps, but not as the hero.

I mean, if Leaving Las Vegas or Barfly had comedy in it and Micckey Rorke or Nick Cage were doing prat falls, would it be funny? I dunno.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Well if the drug makes him act funny and not pathetic and if the drug itself is not bringing him to the brink of death and is a harmless and wacky, perhaps a make believe drug-- then maybe.

I personally don't find anything funny about a heroin addict, but a fall down drunk, perhaps, but not as the hero.

I mean, if Leaving Las Vegas or Barfly had comedy in it and Micckey Rorke or Nick Cage were doing prat falls, would it be funny? I dunno.

Hmmm then It sounds like I have two antagonists in a movie. I think the movie is funny at times, but serious occasionally. If i get rid of the drug thing that still doesn't solve the problem of him causing a fight during the climax and the drug use is a main drive of the movie too. I'm not sure what to do.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Well if the drug makes him act funny and not pathetic and if the drug itself is not bringing him to the brink of death and is a harmless and wacky, perhaps a make believe drug-- then maybe.

I personally don't find anything funny about a heroin addict, but a fall down drunk, perhaps, but not as the hero.

I mean, if Leaving Las Vegas or Barfly had comedy in it and Micckey Rorke or Nick Cage were doing prat falls, would it be funny? I dunno.

A make believe drug? I don't know if I could pull that off that would turn it into a fantasy.

[GonnaBeFamous]

I mean, if Leaving Las Vegas or Barfly had comedy in it and Micckey Rorke or Nick Cage were doing prat falls, would it be funny? I dunno.

Not even if it was turned into a teen comedy?

[Joe Calabrese]

Could be worse. Would you want to see your son or daughter become an addict?

Drug use would automaticaly give you a PG13. A teen comedy that is rated R or a strong pg13 would be suicide to a producer.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Could be worse. Would you want to see your son or daughter become an addict?

Drug use would automaticaly give you a PG13. A teen comedy that is rated R or a strong pg13 would be suicide to a producer.

Porky's and thousands of other teen comedies survived with an R, then again they don't glorify drug use like I did.

I'm almost tempted to just leave it as it is. I think the script is good even though it's almost like the antagonist and protagonist start to switch roles. Can that be possible if it's induced by drug use? Have you ever seen a movie wehre the roles switch and it was justified?

[GonnaBeFamous]

i had a similar problem trying to write a comedy but with a wrapped element of a tragic death and most people found the death and the drama associated with it way over shadowed any comedy in the script.

Did you get rid of the drama or comedy or ditch the script altogether?

[Boo_Radley]

I think some good examples of protag's doing very antagonistic things would be the movies of the Farrelly Brothers.

Kingpin - Woody Harrelson demeans, cheats and swindles an innocent Amish dude, yet he's obviously the protagonist...

Dumb and Dumber - Jim Carrey mickies Jeff Daniels' drink with enough laxative to dry out the Mojave, yet he's one of the two lead protagonists...

Me, Myself and Irene - Jim Carrey spends half his screen time as a rude, obnoxious, hateful, insensitive and violent *******, yet he AND his alter ego are still the protagonists...

There's Something About Mary - Ben Stiller deceives, lies to and tricks the love of his life (though his intentions were spurred by love is no excuse) yet he's still the protagonist.

So I think it's quite possible to have a protag in a comedy who is overly antagonistic (another case in point, and one of the best: Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets) and still be able to laugh at him and consider him the good guy.

[GonnaBeFamous]

I think some good examples of protag's doing very antagonistic things would be the movies of the Farrelly Brothers.

Kingpin - Woody Harrelson demeans, cheats and swindles an innocent Amish dude, yet he's obviously the protagonist...

Dumb and Dumber - Jim Carrey mickies Jeff Daniels' drink with enough laxative to dry out the Mojave, yet he's one of the two lead protagonists...

Me, Myself and Irene - Jim Carrey spends half his screen time as a rude, obnoxious, hateful, insensitive and violent *******, yet he AND his alter ego are still the protagonists...

There's Something About Mary - Ben Stiller deceives, lies to and tricks the love of his life (though his intentions were spurred by love is no excuse) yet he's still the protagonist.

So I think it's quite possible to have a protag in a comedy who is overly antagonistic (another case in point, and one of the best: Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets) and still be able to laugh at him and consider him the good guy.

Thanks. THe drug use would make it a comedy-drama t hough. :(

[Boo_Radley]

Comedies with feature protags who use/abuse drugs and/or alochol:

Animal House
Caddyshack
Pretty much any Kevin Smith movie which features Jay and Silent Bob
Scary Movie series
Airplane (though his "drinking problem" was actually a pun)
Friday/Next Friday/Friday After Next
A tremendous amount of teen comedies from the 80s

Just to name a few.;)

Incidentally, I wouldn't wait for input to determine your ending. Write the ending you want, then if you don't feel right about it, post some pages for input. No sense in having the opinions of dozens of people with different senses of humor determining how YOUR comedy should end, at least not before it's even done.
:)

[GonnaBeFamous]

Comedies with feature protags who use/abuse drugs and/or alochol:

Animal House
Caddyshack
Pretty much any Kevin Smith movie which features Jay and Silent Bob
Scary Movie series
Airplane (though his "drinking problem" was actually a pun)
Friday/Next Friday/Friday After Next
A tremendous amount of teen comedies from the 80s

Just to name a few.;)

Ok, but mine is more of a serious tone at times, mixed in with pure hilarity. Should I get rid of my climax to a more softer one, which is originally the protagonist pushing the antagonist which causes a verbal fight to ensue and then their permanent seperation, just to offset the overly antagonist qualities of my protagonist? This guy is goofy but pathetic and bad at times and I worry that with the drug use the climax might be a bad idea and maybe I should make it more "softer".

[Boo_Radley]

Check out the comment I edited into my last post.:)

[GonnaBeFamous]

Check out the comment I edited into my last post.:)

That's the thing, the script has been done 2 months. I've rewritten it the last few weeks, and still loved most of the script, just needed to be more "movie" like which i've pretty much accomplished by now, although i will tweak it a few more times.

[Joe Calabrese]

Not to argue, as you are right in many respects, but all those movies you mention, drugs are not the story, just part of it.

Of course it's all in the presentation. From Gonna's post it seems the drug and its effects to the Protag is the story

[GonnaBeFamous]

Not to argue, as you are right in many respects, but all those movies you mention, drugs are not the story, just part of it.

Of course it's all in the presentation. From Gonna's post it seems the drug and its effects to the Protag is the story

No, it's his desperation to be with her is the main drive of the story, and his drive to get back with her after the fight. The drug use etc is just a subplot IMO that complexes the story and adds comic relief. He doesn't originally start out drug addicted, she introduces it to him.

[Joe Calabrese]

What's the drug?

[GonnaBeFamous]

What's the drug?

methamphatimine. But its necessary because the antagonist brings in other people and other events happen that make the story interesting. It doesnt start with methamphetamine it starts with an introduction to a weaker drug. I think it's justified because he doesn't do it in the beginning and he is "pressured". The climax where he acts like an antagonist(alon with other odd stuff he does) is just a build up of what he has held in and allows to be done to him.

I take it you haven't seen themovie spun? I forgot all about bringing that up earlier. THat movie is about a 3 day bing of methamphetamine users, there is no protagonist unless you count a meth cooker or her addicted stripper girlfriend or the main character who ties up a woman with duct tape and leaves her there for 4 days while he runs errands around town doing nothing a protagonist. There is no plot. Yet the movie HAS a comedy tone. I've seen it displayed anything from a full blown comedy to a drama. Most say it's a comedy. The first 1/3 of my movie is a comical tone. It only gets serious there, but there is still comical scenes even in there. Honestly this movie is inspired by real life, so it's not an unrealistic interpretation number one, number two if I make it too serious it wouldn't fit the tone of the point of the movie and what the characters are all about. Anyways look at the synposis of Spun, it got 2 stars and hollywood support and yet it violates all the principles you say mine would, it doesn't even have a true climax.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Here's the synposis for spun I checked my T.V guide its a comedy-drama


"Spun (2002) -

[Spun] The story of a young speed freak who is introduced by his dealer to the creator of his favorite drug, which leads to a three-day drugged-out adventure.
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[Spun (2002) - Cast] [Spun (2002) - Crew] [Spun (2002) - Details] [Spun (2002) - Images] [Spun (2002) - Synopsis] [Spun (2002) - Trailers]

Synopsis

For a speed freak, time is an elastic concept. College drop-out Ross (Jason Schwartzman) learns this first-hand as he surrenders to a three day odyssey through a circus-like, crystal-meth Hell in the North Los Angeles Valley. It starts when Ross shows up at Spider Mike¹s (John Leguizamo) dive bungalow, looking to score and desperate enough to risk Spider Mike¹s paranoid and mercurial temper. Spider Mike¹s companions at the bungalow that day include his greasy-haired, red-eyed girlfriend Cookie (Mena Suvari), the pimply, video game-addicted Frisbee (Patrick Fugit) and Nikki (Brittany Murphy), a giggly Vegas stripper, whose boyfriend The Cook (Mickey Rourke) concocts the local speed supply in his airless, combustible motel room laboratory.

Seduced by Nikki and her promise of an unending drug supply, Ross agrees to become chauffeur and errand boy for The Cook. Over the next few days, Ross ricochets between the hilarious and the bizarre as he makes his descent into the insomniac, anarchic world of meth junkies. He rescues Nikki¹s dog who has turned green from inhaling crank fumes, forgets he¹s left stripper April (Chloe Hunter) tied to his bed andhelps rounds up ingredients for The Cook. As the sleepless hours blur, Ross slides further from the "together" life he once had with girlfriend Amy (Charlotte Ayana), his true love, who has since dumped him, moved to LA and returns his calls only when she hopes she might be able to get the money Ross owes her. If Ross has any hope of returning the straight world, The Cook and Nikki prove a formidable obstacle.

Meanwhile, Frisbee and his four-hundred pound mother fall prey to the speed-snorting stars of BUST, a popular reality show. The TV cops (Peter Stormare & Alexis Arquette) stake out Frisbee¹s trailer, arrest him and force him to set up Spider Mike by wearing a wire. Frisbee suffers Spider Mike¹s wrath as Mike, dressed only in a sock, realizes the betrayal. Ross and Nikki narrowly escape the bust to spend an aimless night driving around in his beater Volvo, revealing their mutual loneliness and denial of what they have become. Nikki thinks she¹ll go back to Las Vegas to reunite with her abandoned baby; Ross wants he¹ll go to LA to win back Amy; but both have lost the will to break free of the downward spiral they¹re riding. In the words of The Cook, both have crossed the crystal-meth line of no return: they¹re "spun." With its humor, electric visual style and intensely experiential point of view, Spun explores the razor-fine line between the edge, and over the edge.

[Joe Calabrese]

It may be a comedy, but if yours is like Spun, then it is not a teen comedy which has its own rules and a story line that completely revolves around drug use (and not just drinking or pot use done in a comical way) goes against the teen comedy principal. Teen comedy by definition is not just about teens but for teens.

Again, I may be wrong and this is mostly opinion, but I don't see a teen comedy from your story you've told so far. Too dark a subject to be a teen comedy in the traditional sense.

[GonnaBeFamous]

It may be a comedy, but if yours is like Spun, then it is not a teen comedy which has its own rules and a story line that completely revolves around drug use (and not just drinking or pot use done in a comical way) goes against the teen comedy principal. Teen comedy by definition is not just about teens but for teens.

Again, I may be wrong and this is mostly opinion, but I don't see a teen comedy from your story you've told so far. Too dark a subject to be a teen comedy in the traditional sense.

She brings in her brother into the situation who is only 15 which seves as a subplot, but the main plot is between 19 and and a person in their 30's.

You're right it's not a teen comedy. It's just a drama with comic relief moments in it, but I'm glad you said that because now I can shoot for a certain audience. So I think it could be for now called a comedy-drama unless I changed the whole story.

I decided not to change the story since it was inspired by reallife and ive already toned down some of the drama and words in order to not offset the comedy too much. To do anymore would drain the life out of the movie in my opinoin and make me lose inspiration for a real life event. :)

[GonnaBeFamous]

Guess what I emailed the writer and producer of that film spun and asked him what he was up to and that I was rewriting a comedy-drama screenplay that covers meth use and he said he was busy but he would get back with me in the weekend. :)

[Optimus]

I think it'd be funny to see a heroin addict with severe OCD.

Not enough to base a movie on, but the character quirks of someone so anal about order, neatness, and germs then applying those behaviors to drug use might be somewhat humorous.

[GonnaBeFamous]

I think it'd be funny to see a heroin addict with severe OCD.

Not enough to base a movie on, but the character quirks of someone so anal about order, neatness, and germs then applying those behaviors to drug use might be somewhat humorous.


Heroin is totaly inappropriate. This is why script writers who don't do drugs shouldn't write drug movies. ;)

[Optimus]

I know quite a lot about drugs, but I don't use them. Does that mean I can't write a drug movie?

I've never been a pirate. Does that mean I can't write a pirate movie?

I've never been the President....

...you get the idea.


Someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who's on meth wouldn't be very funny, because the meth would actually help treat the OCD. Heroin would make the OCD worse.

I was just brainstorming based on the thread, not commenting directly on your idea.

[GonnaBeFamous]

I know quite a lot about drugs, but I don't use them. Does that mean I can't write a drug movie?

I've never been a pirate. Does that mean I can't write a pirate movie?

I've never been the President....

...you get the idea.


Someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who's on meth wouldn't be very funny, because the meth would actually help treat the OCD. Heroin would make the OCD worse.

I was just brainstorming based on the thread, not commenting directly on your idea.


If i recall right ritalin and meth doesn't work on OCD only on ADD. Maybe I just forgot.

[Joe Calabrese]

GBF.
Don't be so argumentative.

Opti.
The kid's new, cut him some slack.

[Optimus]

If i recall right ritalin and meth doesn't work on OCD only on ADD. Maybe I just forgot.

You recall slightly incorrectly.

It depends on the case, the type of OCD, and the severity. Methylphenidate isn't usually used to treat OCD, however, Adderall (an amphetamine) is in some cases.